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Growing up, I always skied alone. Local friends didn’t ski. I made loads of friends with people going up the lift and sometimes we’d ski together, but I was really on my own. Anyway, this past weekend we went to Utah so cousins could ski together and celebrate my nephew’s 15th birthday. I had to chaperone and tag along so nobody got lost on the big mountain we hadn’t ever been to. Nobody wanted to ride up with me so it was super fun. 🙄 Once again, I was stuck as a single rider amongst strangers making small talk. They had fun though. ❤️❄️❤️

I was just watching a youtube video I came across where the stars are going to cut back on their daily vlog. I feel like this is a world I do not comprehend. I mean these people grew up with reality tv and youtube. It is my children’s world. I do not get it. They make a lot of money showing up to their fans EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. I’m not sure it’s worth it. I have seen very little reality tv. I grew up watching soap operas. I guess it’s the same thing. We used to be down in SOCAL on vacation in the eighties and we’d have to record (ha ha) the soap and watch it every night with my aunt. =Same thing, different day. Anyway, I am dealing with a lot of “constants” right now. I’m thinking about adding video content to my blog or doing something on gasp…. :0 Youtube. I hate to hear recordings of my voice, but it may just be the best medium we have for communication. I just heard that in Japan the most famous singer is now computer generated. HA HA.. So I guess I could get a computer-generated voice. It’s a new frontier.

Have you already gotten used to writing the correct year on your checks? The holiday was really long around here with school being out until this week and then a sick child the first 3 days back. I seriously would have enjoyed a couple of days off of school somewhere else instead of all at once. We didn’t do much, but I loved not traveling. We planned on going to Utah to ski, but the snow conditions are really poor so far this year out West. I’m really happy I didn’t invest in a ski pass this year, but we need snow in general. I did buy this pass as it worked for my 5th grader. https://www.skiutah.com/passes/passports One time use and it will more than pay for itself. Anyone with a 5th grader can buy it, not just a Utah resident. It also contains some good gear coupons, etc. There is still plenty of time to make it to the slopes without committing funds for the wrong conditions. I grew up on skis in Southern Utah at +9,000 feet and I really only want to ski in good conditions. For me, that means lots of snow and not too cold!

It’s New Year’s Eve. I’m a big partier. I’ll be watching Stranger Things tonight. My teen begged and begged us to get Netflix. I don’t watch much on tv, but we’ve been catching up on it during the Christmas break. I’m kind of into it. We already had a big walk today and went to church. 2017 was an awesome year. We woke up in Utah for a snowy hike on the first day of the year. Hiking is something most everybody can do. I like to emphasize that it takes NO skill. Everybody seems to need to be the best at something and a mountain really doesn’t care how fast you go up it. The same with a walking trail. Every town on the planet has a place to walk. I’ve walked in some of the most urban places and some of the most remote. You can find enJOYment in walking. I also biked this year in Central Park for the first time. You can circle the whole park without breaking a sweat on a nice temperate May day. I enjoy a leisurely bike ride whenever possible and renting a bike on a trip is extra fun. I’m not going to be racing anybody. I’m out for the fresh air and a bit of physical fitness. I will definitely be finding some new and old hiking destinations in 2018. I hope you will too. Happy New Year!!!!

On Christmas Eve, we got snow. We got more fresh falling snow ❄️ on Christmas Day. After the gifts and the brunch, we got our snow gear on and went behind the house for some sledding. Then, it was time for a hike in the falling snow. I ❤️ snow. It seems like it brings everyone out of their homes. In 8 years, we never much saw our neighbors in Oregon except when it snowed and it seems the same here in Idaho. Christmas snow ❄️ ❄️ ❄️ ❄️ ⛄️ ⛄️ ⛄️ ⛄️ is my favorite.

I’m not a follower. I always do my own thing. I am really bad with directions on even the simplest projects. So….. I joined a gym again after a few years off from my previous diligent, yet not psycho gym attendance. (—but I didn’t do it for the new year I joined in early November…) Anyway, I walked into the gym knowing that I was already going to join. It was not very simple as I had to have a tour and tell them my life story and agree to a health assessment before I could finally just JOIN. Anyway, I am back in fitness classes and having a good time. I was incredibly weak on my upper body the first few classes, but immediately I started to get stronger. The weeks passed and I had to go to my assessment. I really wanted to get my actual age info. but they didn’t give it to me probably cause I said no to the personal training 10 times and needed to leave. I really didn’t want to miss my yoga class for the week for that. The local yoga teacher has a fond need of calling me out to fix my poses and like I said above, I’m not good with directions. However, it’s an amazing class. She has some incredible moves, but I’m content to be improving on my upper body strength. The snazzy poses…… I might never get to. My advice if you join a gym in the next few weeks or ever. Go. Don’t be a statistic that pays and makes the gym richer for nothing.

at home since 1998. We’ve been some fun places for turkey day, but also spent a lot of time

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slaving to prepare a feast. With a very busy summer though, we couldn’t make the trek home earlier. This was the day before Thanksgiving. As the weather was unseasonably nice, Zion National Park had a lot of visitors. We drove home a different way due to the crowds and we spotted a flock of turkeys. They are a common sight in the vicinity of Bryce Canyon so I suspected we would see some and we did.